This invention relates to the prevention or treatment of motion sickness. More particularly, the present invention is directed to preventing motion sickness by the use of a certain class of anticonvulsants.
Traditional motion sickness therapies rely predominantly upon drugs in the antihistaminic and anticholinergic drugs classes. See Money, K. E., Motion Sickness, Physiological Reviews, 1970, 50(1):1-39; Wood, C. D., Graybiel, A., Theory of Antimotion Sickness Drug Mechanisms, Aerospace Med., 1972, 43(3):249-252; and Wood, C. D., Manno, J. E., Wood, M. J., Manno, B. R., Redetzki, H. M., Mechanisms of Antimotion Sickness Drugs, Aviat. Space Environ. Med., 1987. 58(9. Suppl.):A262-5. Examples of such drugs are promethazine, scopolamine, dimenhydrinate and cyclazine. These are sometimes combined with a sympathomimetic agent such as ephedrine or amphetamine to enhance their action and reduce the side effects or lethargy and drowsiness that often accompanies the use of these drugs. Other traditional side effects of drugs presently used in the prevention of motion sickness include blurred vision, dizziness, dry mouth and sedation. In addition, therapy with the present day antimotion sickness drugs whether used alone or in combination with other drugs is less than optimal.
It is an object of the present invention to prevent or treat motion sickness by the use of drugs found to be far more effective than anti-motion sickness agents presently employed without the aforementioned side effects that frequently accompany these drugs.
Another object of the invention is to prevent or treat motion sickness with agents which do not require use of additional enhancing agents or side-effect reducing agents.